11.04.08 - Part VI in a series analyzing, evaluating, and exploring the political and social implications of a 30 lb, 21 inch tall, gold-plated statue of Hindu monkey god, Hanuman, being sanctified and sent by a group in India to American presidential candidate Barack Obama. Parts I, II, & III detail the background of this idol gift.

Disclaimer: No offense or disrespect is intended to the Hindu faith or Hindu people. If anyone under mind control is troubled snap you fingers three times.

It might be silly to post the final installment of this monkey in pocket series on election day. As Silliness is number 6 on my list of serious campaign issues, the question "Is that a monkey in your pocket? touches on there's nothing wrong with that. The monkey question, raised by news reported in The Times of India: "The idol is being presented to Obama as he is reported to be a Lord Hanuman devotee and carries with him a locket of the monkey god along with other good luck charms." So Obama has  A monkey locket in his pocket but how's his judgment? Let's examine some recent examples:

6. Silliness
   American politics are serious business. Leading the most powerful country in the world is serious business. Being described as someone with a monkey locket in his pocket doesn't add one percentage of credibility to Barack Obama.
   

The initial question of, Is That A Monkey In Your Pocket? distracted me from my scheduled activities that day. I researched and wrote drafts for this series and performed other related online activities. That day, I also was tired from the previous days yoga and put off having a nap. I imagine having a monkey in ones pocket, locket or otherwise, would be especially distracting in the least. No matter if you have a monkey, pockets, a monkey locket in your pocket, or not, it's clear that during this presidential election the American people will need help from whichever benevolent deity wants to lend a hand, or two, or more.

So in addressing the 6th Serious Campaign Issues/Question List Is that a monkey in your pocket? Here are ten (10) silly things about the election.

1. The marathon election. It was way too long. That's just silly. I think having so much uncertainty about their primary, that primary, etc. etc., is not helpful to the American psyche.
   
   
2. The news media's standards. What standards? In fact, the news media is so absurd and silly at this point specifics items themselves will constitute individual numbers. For too long, it seems as if a typo circulated in annals of network news resulted in teams of fortunetellers rather than journalists. The race to predict predict declare is silly. What happened to reporting? They might as well call Miss Cleo. My how times have changed. Do you recall the fuss made when reports came out that Nancy Reagan consulted with an astrologist? The 'news media' made a big deal about that. Oh, guess they've been silly for a long time.
   
   
3. The silly timing of stories. News desks editors across the channels must be very engrossed with MySpace pages. What else explains the silly selection of news stories to research and follow?
   
   
4. The theory that Obama is using hypnotism techniques. For those who don't get Obama, this possibility does explain a lot. I googled around after initially hearing about this. According to the 'study'. Here is a Google search HTML version of the PDF for your own review.
   "An Examination of Obama's Use of Hidden Hypnosis Techniques in His Speeches
   
   THE EVIDENCE IS HERE: This document contains over 60 pages of evidence and analysis proving Barack Obama's use of a little-known and highly deceptive and manipulative form of "hack" hypnosis on millions of unaware Americans, and reveals what only a few psychologists and hypnosis/NLP experts know."
   
   NLP stands for Neuro-linguistic programming. Of course the 'study' suggests that it must be read in order strictly, which makes you wonder whether you should read it at all. Apparently simply discussing the hypnotism strategy is enough to 'break the spell." This item somewhat references back to item #2
   
   
5. The fuss about yard signs is just silly. People stealing signs, rigging signs. Signs are people's way of expressing their free speech. It just a sign. I was concerned enough about putting a sign up that I created a little Web page to document it. My silly Yard Sign Status page Well, I intended for this to be silly.
   
   
6. Tom Brokow moderating a debate. That was very silly.
   
   
7. Excessive polling is silly. I would be more interested in knowing why someone is voting a certain way and what information, process, and research they do to come to their decision rather than hearing about this many people are predicted to vote this way. See item #2 above.
   
   
8. Acorn. What's with this group? I see voter registration forms at the post office. You fill it out. There's a need for an entire organization to help people with this? Silly. When Mickey Mouse gets fills out a voter registration card that is silly.
   
   
9. Polling machine mishaps are silly. How hard is this really? It's not like they need the machines to run 24/7 year round. I personally never had a chad problem. I always checked my chads. No one ever told me to do this. It was just common sense. The idea that any paperless balloting is done is even sillier. Come on we need backups and physical ballots in case of recounts.
   
   
10. Free food offers for voters. I first heard about Starbucks' offer of a free cup of coffee if you go in and tell them you voted. This ran afoul of federal election law, which prohibits rewarding votes. When I voted someone mentioned Ben and Jerry's was also 'rewarding' votes. This is silly. Should someone who would vote because of free ice cream or coffee even be able to vote?

Maybe it's because elections are so serious that silliness surrounds the election. Voting is serious business. The result of which comes with consequences. Let's hope the consequences aren't silly.

[ Previous Part I   | Part II   |   Part III   | Part IV | |   Part V   |   You're reading Part VI  ]
Here are public domain depictions of Hindu God, Hanuman:

Serious Campaign Issues/Question List
Is that a monkey in your pocket?
1. √ Religion
   
2. √Monkeys
   
3. √Special Interests
   
4. √Judgment
   
5. √Demographics
   
6. Silliness
   
   

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